Renewed fighting risks ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Yemen, aid groups warn
Almost one million people cut off from food aid as health infrastructure overwhelmed by war-wounded.
Key points
- Aid groups ICRC and WFP warn that renewed fighting in Yemen has cut off an estimated 800,000 people from life-saving food assistance.
- Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, is worst hit, with about 600,000 people lacking food assistance, including 200,000 women and children.
- Health facilities in Marib, Taiz and along the Red Sea coast are overwhelmed, with some receiving more than 700 cases in a single week.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have warned that worsening fighting in Yemen risks a humanitarian catastrophe. The WFP estimates that 800,000 people have been cut off from life-saving food assistance as front lines have rapidly shifted between Saudi-backed forces of the internationally recognised government and the Iran-aligned Houthis.
The crisis is worst in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, where an estimated 600,000 people have no access to food assistance, including 200,000 women and children, the United Nations agency said. Taiz has been the focus of recent clashes and is hemmed in by Houthi forces, imperiling aid deliveries.
Food insecurity across Yemen
The WFP said the loss of access is especially alarming because Taiz has some of the country's highest levels of food insecurity. Across Yemen, more than 18 million people do not have enough to eat, it added.
The latest monitoring shows a record 74 percent of households in accessible areas cannot meet their daily food needs, according to the agency.
This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe
— El-Khidir Daloum, WFP's country director in Yemen
Hospitals under pressure
The ICRC said "overwhelmed" health facilities in Marib, Taiz and along the Red Sea coast were bearing the brunt of the fighting, with some receiving more than 700 cases in a single week. Firas Abu Samra, the ICRC's health services coordinator, said only a handful of facilities operating in Yemen can provide comprehensive care for the injured.
Front-line hospitals are taking in large numbers of wounded while running short of surgical supplies, anaesthetics, oxygen and medicines. Christine Cipolla, the ICRC's head of delegation in Yemen, said the country's battered health system is ill-prepared to cope with any more fighting.
